Improved fttrnace tor producing steel and other metals



time @anni fa.

EDWARD L. sEYMoUruor New YoRKQ-N. Y.

Lette/rs Pate/nt No. 85,701, (lated .Tamm/ry 5, 1869.

mPROVED URNACE FOR PRODUCING- STEEL AND OTHER METALS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWARD L. SEYMOUR, of the city and State of New York, have invented a new and improved Reverberatiug Furnace for the Production of Cast-Steel; and, though applicable to the production of other metals, I shall describe it in the following specication as having reference only to the making of the first.

My present invention, of which this specification embraces a full and clear. description, relates, mainly, to the best form of construction and arrangementof a furnace for producing cast-steel upon a principle or system heretofore patented to me, under date of Novemberv 19, 1867, the main feature of which consists in preventing the access, either of air or of the gaseous products of combustion, to come in contact with the steel being made, or with the crucible or crucibles containing it. i

In my improved furnace, to be presently described, l I

employ the heat passing from the chamber or furnace proper, where the steel is made, .to roast orvmetallize the ore necessary for another charge of the crucibles.

For full explanation of this and other characteristics of my improved furnace, I will now refer vto the accompaning drawings, of which- Figure 1 represents avertical longitudinallsection.

Figure 2, a horizontal longitudinal section.

Figure 3, a vertical cross-section through line 3 3 of fig. 1.y Y

Figured, a vertical cross-section through line 2 2 of g. 1.

Figure is a vertical cross-section through line 1 1 of iig. 1.

Figure 6 is a horizontal cross-section through line 4 4 of fig. 1.

A Like letters of reference refer to the same parts in the different figures.

. The combustion-chamber and mainbody of my furnace I propose to erect in the ground, its top being on a level with it,

A is the ash-pit, having a proper means of access Afor the removal of ashes, Src., as may be necessary,

and so arranged as to be tightly closed meantime.

B is the grate, inclined, upon which the solid fuel is burned.

C is a hopper or chute, into which the fuel is placed, and which is of such form as to feed it properly by the fuels gravity to the tire.

In the brick-work, and flush with the inside back and front Walls of the ash-pit, are two or more pieces of fire-clay or other proper material, X X, Src., extending across the breadth of the grate, and more, through each of which pieces there is an opening or conduit, opening from which, toward the grate, are series of smaller perforations, to deliver air as blast under the grate in diffused jets.

On each side of the ash-pit are two of these conduits, as shown, each supplied from separate pipes, or branches .from one pipe, the latter again being supplied with some convenient device to regulate the force ofthe dow, relatively, from them, according to the nature of the fuel and the rate of combustion required.

E isa bridge-wall, also having longitudinal openings or conduits and VperI'o'rations, similar to X X, from which' jets of much hotter air, similarly supplied, are projected above the grate and the incandescent fuel, to

intensify the combustion, it being scarcelyv necessary l to remark that, other things equal, as is the rapidity of combustion, so will bcy the intensity` of the heat.

To secure the thorough combustion of the carbonio oxide or carburetted hydrogen that might, nevertheless, escape unconsnmed, I have, at two or more places in the bottom of my furnace, jet-suppliers of heated air, similar in character to X X. These are marked X2 in the figures.

The jet-holes, however, are smaller next to the supply-pipes and conduits or channels on either side, (for there is one on each side of my furnace to all these air-passages referred to and'increas'ing' in diameter toward the centre ofthe furnace, which plan properly regulates the distribution of the air-jets.

F is another bridge-wall, for more thoroughly effecting reverberation, as will be readily understood by ex-v perts, G being the reverberatory chamber.

The top of the reverberatory chamber is an arch, H, tigs. 4 and 5, composed of, say, two or more pieces, properly tted,vof iirelay or other refractory material.

The span ofthe arch may be from three to four feet,

and, from its chord to its crown, say, six inches; the

depth. of the reverberatory chamber, say, eighteen inches; the arch, say, four to five inches thick; the exterior walling ofthe furnace being of common brick, and being arranged as previously explained.

Over the arch H may be, say, eighteen inches of or dinary brickwork, level on top. Through the top insert, as permanent fixtures, what I call shields o1' jackets, I I, made of re-clay or similar refractory maf terial, extending to the bottom of the furnace-chamber.V rIhese are to prevent the contact of air or the products of combustion with the crucibles or their contents, as before mentioned. v

Ordinaiily, I propose to have, in each furnace, two longitudinal rows of these, say four in each row. In these are placed the crucibles, containing the ore, in a inelygranular state, metallized, by my plan, in part of the same furnace, and by a continuous process, as explained, mixed with a proper amount of carbon, to make the steel, as described.

X2 X2 are arranged to cross between a transverse row of the jackets.

Each of the jackets I I are closed by tompions, lids, or covers Il, made hollow, for lightness, of similar material, and extending down to the arch H, to prevent the escape of heat, and to facilitate the removal and the replacing of crucibles, as I2,f1g. 4, shows, such an arrangement being a great improvement upon any system ofside-openings, both for the comfort of the .worker and quickness of work. l

As the prcducts of combustion pass from the furnace-chamber, they ascend, in contact with two sides of the chamber K, wherein I roast and metallize the ore.

This chamber is made of cast-iron, tire-clay, or other suitable materials, and issnpported on an arch, L, (of angular form, in cross-secti0n,) or on some equivalent support. l

In this chamber, on prorper ledges or angle-irons, are supported movable pans, Z Z, say, of cast-iron, and a small distance apart, in which the ore, in a granular state, is spread.

On each ofthe sides of this metallizing-chamber, not covered by the flues opposite its other sides,- there are alternating doors or removable covers to apertures Z2 Z2, say, one opposite every three pans, through which to remove and replace the pans holding the ore .to be metallized.

The drawings, in connection with these explanations, Will make this arrangement clearly understood. v

Above the metallizing-chamber the products Ofcombustion may join in a single flue, leading to a chimney.

The Walls of that portion of my furnace embracing the metalliZing-chamberl purpose to have as follows:

The space on either side, sa four inches, marked m; Wall of fire-brick, four and one-half inches, marked n,- sp'ace' for pipes to'supply the different air-blas4ts, hot, two inches, marked o; sixteen-inch outer Wall, of common brick, markedp.

Any convenient means may be employed for forcing the air to supply the different jet-blasts hereinbefore described, and it will be understood that the heated surfaces, along which the airsupply pipes and conduits or channels pass, will bring the current-air to a higher or covers, substantially and higher temperature, until it isvunited at the 'jetholes described, at a temperature corresponding to the white-heat of iron.

. vBeyond the farther bridge-wall Ethere is a damper or gate,'F, to .regulate the flow of the products of cornhustion from the rcverberatory chamber and its heat,

and in the flue, beyond the metallizing-chainber, is another damper, F2, (see iig. 3,) te regulate the heat of the latter.

As before mentioned, each air-supply pipe has its own regulating-cock, so as to govern the heat in this respect.

Having nowvfully described' the features of my improved furnace for the production of east-steel from the ore, 85e.,

What I claim therein, ters Patent, is-

l. The employment of the jackets or crucible-receptacles, inserted from the top, with their tompions, lids,

in the manner and for the purand desire to secure by Let- 

